http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/51930.aspx
Syrian writer: Robert Fisk is indoctrinated by Syrian regime
Mohammed Saad, Tuesday 4 Sep 2012
Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, who spent 16 years as a political prisoner in
Syria, says that the imprisonment conditions in Syria are very different
to those portrayed by British journalist Fisk in a recent newspaper article
Syrian writer and thinker Yassin Al-Haj Saleh has vehemently criticised
British journalist Robert Fisk, who is the Middle East correspondent of
the British daily The Independent, for the image that he portrayed of
Syrian political prisons in an article published on Sunday, 2 September,
titled 'Syria's road from jihad to prison'.
Yassin accused Fisk, who visited Syria this week, of being
"indoctrinated"; his article portrays the intelligence officers at one
of Syria’s most notorious military prison as friendly, agreeing to leave
Fisk alone with the prisoners, who Fisk describes as "Islamic jihadists."
"Fisk reflected this view of the political prisons because he was just
too embedded in the events, and couldn't see the wider vision; he was
indoctrinated," Yassin told Ahram Online from Syria.
Yassin, who spent 16 years in military prisons in Syria, says that
Fisk's description is not related to the facts on the ground.
"He visited a prison where all the detainees he met were extremist
jihadists who came to Syria from Algeria and Turkey to make big
explosions, and when intelligence agencies arrest them, they do not
torture them as we may expect. One of them told Fisk that he’s fine, and
thanks god for that; another one said that he was tortured for only one
day," commented Yassin.
"The detainees are Salafist jihadists and yet the officer leaves Fisk
alone to interview them freely." Yassin added, marking the friendly
behaviour that Fisk asserted he witnessed from the guards.
"Personally, I was jailed for 16 years, for minor charges. The
imprisonment conditions were worse; no Western or local journalist could
ever have visited me nor any human rights activists. This applies to
everyone who was arrested during the revolution, the thing that Fisk
never revealed," Saleh argued.
The only explanation of the access Fisk got to the prisons is that the
Syrian regime guaranteed that Fisk isn’t going to reflect this negative
image, and made their arrangements with Fisk, who has allowed himself to
be misled, according to Saleh.
Saleh, 51, is a Syrian thinker, writer and former political prisoner,
and spent 16 years in the Syrian regime’s prisons during the 1980s and
1990s. He is a regular contributor to various Arabic newspapers and
periodicals, including a weekly column in Al-Hayat newspaper.
He published two books after he was released from prison in 1997, 'Syria
from the shadow: Glimpses inside the black box' and 'Myths of the
others: Criticising contemporary Islam and criticising its criticism.'
His latest book, released last July, titled 'Salvation boys: 16 years in
Syrian prisons', narrates his time in detention in Syria.